Civil servants at Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) advised the Treasury against cutting winter fuel payments, The Herald has been told.

Sources aware of conversations inside Labour said that Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, agreed with the advice from her officials.

But a few days after receiving the DWP warning the Chancellor announced plans to means test the annual benefit, worth up to £300, and designed to help older people cover the cost of heating their homes in the coldest months.

As many as 50 Labour MPs could refuse to back the UK Government’s controversial plan to cut the winter fuel allowance, despite Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging back benchers to get behind a measure he has conceded is “unpopular”.

While few on the government benches are expected to vote against the policy in Tuesday’s vote, in a motion brought by the Conservatives, dozens are believed to be considering abstaining or being absent – though rebels say the numbers in their ranks are very hard to predict.

Age Scotland, which represents older people, is calling all Labour MPs to vote against the plan - saying it is not enough for MPs to abstain.

Adam Stachura, Age Scotland’s policy director: said: “This decision is clearly going to have a deep and long-lasting impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of pensioners in Scotland.

"If it is the case that concerns raised by DWP haven’t been properly heeded by the Treasury or Number 10, and their plans have been rushed through without getting to grips with the scale of the challenge facing older people then I think people should rightly be angry. I’m sure Labour MPs are very uncomfortable with the lack of process and haste.

“It’s baffling to think that this plan, which is so damaging has made it this far, with so little parliamentary scrutiny or thorough assessment of its impact.

“It’s vital that MPs, especially from the Labour party, vote against this plan when they face it in the Commons. Abstaining won’t be enough.”

Ahead of the vote in the Commons insiders last night revealed tensions inside government on the policy.

"The DWP sent the Treasury an outline of what will happen if you do this in terms of hard numbers, the number of people affected and the impact it would have," a source told The Herald.

"It was basically the numbers straight up - the numbers of people who would basically get shafted...The advice [from the DWP to the Treasury] was 'you shouldn't be doing this'. That was also the view of Liz Kendall, the secretary of state for the DWP."

They added that the decision to means test the winter fuel allowance was announced just a few days after the DWP warned the Treasury against introducing the policy.

(Image: PA)

The DWP told The Herald on Friday that an impact assessment was done to examine the effect of the policy.

This piece of work is distinct from an equality impact assessment required under equalities legislation to assess the effect of the policy on people with protected characteristics, which includes age and disability.

The DWP has refused to confirm to The Herald if this EIA was undertaken.

A Labour MP told the Guardian the EIA was not carried out.

“There was no equality impact assessment, no consultation with charities. And it was announced just before the summer recess. It’s hard to say how many people will abstain – a lot of the new MPs are quite scared of the whips – but everyone is being inundated with emails and letters about this,” they said.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in July that the annual payout in England and Wales would be restricted to those on pension credit or certain other benefits as part of her plan to tackle a £22 billion black hole. Single pensioners with earnings up to £218.15 and couples with a joint income of up to £332.95 are eligible for pension credit.

The move is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the up to £300 payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving around £1.4 billion this year.

Ms Reeves' announcement left the Scottish Government with a £160 million funding shortfall, forcing them to means test the Scottish equivalent benefit, the new devolved pension age winter heating payment.

This will mean that in Scotland the benefit will be restricted to those receiving pension credit or other eligible benefits, ending universal entitlement for 900,000 Scots pensioners. Take-up for pension credit stands at a meagre 63% on the most recent figures (2022).

An analysis by older people's charity Age Scotland last month estimated 270,000 Scots pensioners already living in energy poverty will be plunged into further misery by having their benefit scrapped.

The Herald revealed on Saturday that leading lawyer Mike Dailly believes a successful legal challenge could be mounted against the controversial policy change.

Mr Dailly, principal solicitor and solicitor advocate at the Govan Law Centre, in Glasgow told The Herald the Scottish Government could lodge a judicial review amid concerns that a "proper process of evaluation and equality impact assessment has not taken place".

Elderly and disabled people have specific rights under UK equalities legislation and Mr Dailly fears that an assessment of how the policy change affects them, may not have been adequately undertaken before the decision was announced.

"There is at the very least a prima facie case for the Scottish Government to mount a legal challenge against the UK Government," Mr Dailly said.

Responding, a UK Government spokesman said: “We are absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. That’s why through our commitment to protect the triple lock, over 12 million pensioners will see their State Pensions increase by almost a thousand pounds over the next five years.

“But given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most while we take the difficult decisions needed to fix the foundations of our economy. Over a million pensioners will continue to receive the winter fuel payment and eligible pensioners will also be able to benefit from the £150 warm home discount scheme from October to help with their energy bills over winter.

“We are urging pensioners to come forward and check their eligibility for pension credit to ensure as many people in need as possible have access to this support.”

A UK Government source confirmed an impact assessment was carried out for this policy but added: "The winter fuel payment regulations state there is no (Regulatory) Impact Assessment as this is not necessary for such legislation – this is because the effect is on individuals and private households rather than businesses or voluntary sector organisations. This is different from other types of impact assessments for example equalities impact assessments."

The Herald asked the DWP and the Treasury to comment on our report that DWP officials had advised the Treasury not to means test the winter fuel payment, and that Ms Kendall was in agreement with the advice.

The Treasury did not respond while the DWP responded to an earlier question about the impact assessment that it carried out but did not address the question whether it warned the Treasury not to proceed with the cut.

A DWP spokesman said: "We are absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. That’s why through our commitment to protect the triple lock, over 12 million pensioners could see their State Pensions increase by almost a thousand pounds over the next five years.

“But given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most while we take the difficult decisions needed to fix the foundations of our economy. Over a million pensioners will continue to receive the Winter Fuel Payment and eligible pensioners will also be able to benefit from the £150 Warm Home Discount scheme from October to help with their energy bills over winter.

“We are urging pensioners to come forward and check their eligibility for Pension Credit to ensure as many people in need as possible have access to this support.”

Wes Streeting, the UK health secretary, said the amount of criticism the policy had received showed the “political pain of it”. However he made clear he would vote for the cut.

He told Sky News on Sunday: “I’m not remotely happy about it and I’m not remotely happy about having to say to some of my constituents: ‘I’m sorry that I’m going into work this week to vote for something that will take money away from you’.

"Let me tell you that whether it’s pensioners or anyone else in this country, they won’t forgive us if we duck the difficult decisions now and end up leaving the country with a bigger bill.”

Last month Labour loyalist Lord George Foulkes said cutting the winter fuel payment was a "mistake" and would have a "devastating effect on hundreds of thousands of poorer pensioners".

Downing Street denied yesterday the Cabinet was split on the policy of means testing winter fuel payments.